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and facilitate integration and, equally importantly, avoiding the pitfalls ofthose which have not.c. Labour market well-being is central to promoting the social integrationof immigrants, yet the mechanisms of labour market integration arepoorly understood. In this research we are opening up an enquiryinto a specific aspect of this integration: the recruitment process. Indoing so we are mindful of the great diversity that exists amongstimmigrants and amongst employers as well as the fact that the processof recruitment is itself complex, comprised of multiple elements notall of which are equally amenable to investigation. However, given thetime and geographic constraints on this research, we have not beenable to fully take this diversity and complexity into account. Ideally, todetermine the implications for immigrants (or any other group) of anyparticular company’s practices would require an audit of all the stagesinvolved in the recruitment process. Such an approach was not possibleand instead we have to rely on the self-declared practices of employers,albeit employers with a demonstrated level of commitment to ensuringequality of access for immigrants. It is important to stress therefore thatthis research cannot claim to be a fully comprehensive account of howIrish employers recruit or how they recruit immigrant workers. What itdoes do is open up this issue for discussion by identifying a number ofkey areas where challenges and issues arise for immigrants seeking workand for employers seeking workers, and highlight a number of innovativeresponses to these.d. In Chapter 2, we present the views of immigrant workers on theirexperiences of seeking work and of the recruitment process. Almostall of the immigrant workers involved in the research (and most of theorganisations consulted with) were of the view that immigrants perse experience difficulties on the labour market and that some groupsof immigrants (notably Africans) experience severe difficulty. In somerespects, the difficulties they identify and the views they express couldhave been articulated by other groups who experience disadvantageon the Irish labour market: lack of information; distance from serviceproviders; employer’s negative mindsets for example, invariably feature inthe subjective accounts of disadvantaged job-seekers (Duggan and Loftus,2006). This commonality suggests that in addressing the labour marketneeds of immigrants (and particularly the most disadvantaged) lessonscan be learnt from labour market inclusion measures more generally.However, the fact that immigrants share certain labour market difficultieswith other groups should not detract from what is specific to theirsituation or from the heterogeneity of immigrants themselves.24Issues and Challenges in the Recruitment and Selection of Immigrant Workers in Ireland
e. Among the employers consulted with, several did specifically addressthe needs of immigrant job applicants and developed innovativeapproaches to removing barriers to their recruitment and selection.These examples of innovation are presented in Chapter 3 and discussedin Chapter 4. These highlight the types of measures that can be takento ensure that the recruitment process accommodates diversity. Otherfindings also provide insights into the type of practices, provisions andpolicies that could improve the well-being of immigrants on the labourmarket and ensure their access to appropriate employment. Theseinsights are also discussed in Chapter 4. While the research did not aimto produce definitive recommendations in relation to such a broad area,based on our findings however, it is evident that there is a wide range ofmeasures that could be taken to enhance practice in this area. It is alsoclear that there are issues that merit more comprehensive and in-depthresearch with a view to enhancing the recruitment and selection chancesand experiences amongst immigrants. These are elaborated on in thefollowing chapters.25
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Page 10 and 11: persecution. Economic migrants enco
Page 12 and 13: • The third group is the so-calle
Page 14 and 15: • Green Cards, which have replace
Page 16 and 17: Employment Services (LES) although
Page 18 and 19: Unemployment is not the only issue
Page 20 and 21: Overall, both official statistics a
Page 22 and 23: issues from the perspective of thes
Page 26 and 27: Chapter 2Looking for work in Irelan
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Page 30 and 31: In terms of public sector 6 employm
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Page 34 and 35: on courses they do not want to do a
Page 36 and 37: 2.6.1 Communication issuesAmong the
Page 38 and 39: • There was also the view that Ir
Page 40 and 41: • Freedom of movement for the cit
Page 42 and 43: • what they see as the reluctance
Page 44 and 45: are employed. By the end of the sec
Page 46 and 47: large organisations are more likely
Page 48 and 49: other occupations such as youth wor
Page 50 and 51: at 24 per cent (and just 22 per cen
Page 52 and 53: Other mechanisms to recruit foreign
Page 54 and 55: In large volume recruitment campaig
Page 56 and 57: Innovation in the use of testsIrish
Page 58 and 59: 3.2.7 VettingThe vetting of candida
Page 60 and 61: that considered foreign workers to
Page 62 and 63: Chapter 4Conclusions and Discussion
Page 64 and 65: of recruitment should be more integ
Page 66 and 67: Table 4.1:Divergent views of Employ
Page 68 and 69: Perceive written andlanguage based
Page 70 and 71: as either a basis for determining e
Page 72 and 73: It is reasonable to assume that in
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Of more specific relevance to the c
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public sector employers) as well as
Page 78 and 79:
BibliographyBarrett, A and Y McCart
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O’Connell, P and F McGinnity (200
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Public Appointments ServiceChapter
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